In the prior art there has long been a need to scan documents to create images that are used by copiers in the reproduction process, and by scanners and optical character readers to create an electronic file of the scanned picture or document.
When the width of a picture or document to be scanned is wider than the field of view of a camera, such as a charge coupled device (CCD) video camera, in the scanner something must be done to scan the whole document. One prior art technique has been to utilize two cameras mounted side by side and the video output from the two cameras is electronically joined together, while eliminating duplicity caused by overlapping scan fields of the two cameras.
Another prior art technique has been to use a mirror or prism arrangement that is mechanically rotated or oscillated to receive the image of an entire scanned picture or document and sequentially reflect it into the lens of a single camera. Such mechanical arrangements must be carefully aligned and due to mechanical wear must be periodically realigned and repaired.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an optical arrangement not having moving parts that can be used to input the image of a picture and/or text document that is wider than the field of view of a single camera to a document scanner.